Molly's Law stronger after Goodin proposal

On Thursday, Gov. Mike Pence signed legislation that includes a proposal from state Rep. Terry Goodin to allow police departments to undergo annual missing person's training.

The idea for Goodin's amendment came when a woman in his district reported to the Indianapolis Police Department that her daughter went missing in October. Her request for an investigation was not acted upon for three months.

"IMPD's inability to act on a missing person request for three months is not in conjunction with the current High Risk Missing Persons law, otherwise known as the Molly Dattilo Law," Goodin said.

Dattilo is a Madison woman who disappeared in Indianapolis nine years ago. Her family was instrumental in getting a law passed that required police agencies to act quickly on missing persons reports.

"I worked with the family and police officers to put together an amendment to House Bill 1044 which requires police to go through Alzheimer's and dementia training," Goodin said. "My amendment requires the same training for high-risk missing persons," he said.

The need to act quickly on missing person reports was magnified this week with the news that three women escaped after being held for 10 years in a Cleveland home.

Goodin's legislation is an important step that makes the Molly Dattilo Law even stronger.